Carson in VA

The Carson Family

From Washington County, Virginia
To Rockcastle County, Kentucky
To Jellico, Tennessee
To Davie, Broward County, Florida

Virginia Governor David Campbell (1837-1840) wrote the following in the journal “The Virginian.”

"Some account of the first settlers of old Washington County, Virginia, would, no doubt, be interesting to many of the readers of the Virginian, and I could tell them something on that subject, if I had the resolution to write it down, but on that point I have some misgivings. I will, however, try.

"Hunters visited the county as early as 1745, but no families came and settled permanently until about 1767 or 1768. In two years from that time many emigrated, so that in 1770 the county was dotted all over with improvements. The first great migration was from Augusta County, but the spirit was immediately caught, and large numbers of families, and, indeed, whole connections, came from Frederick County and the Valley - from the Augusta line to the Potomac - from the upper counties of Maryland and from Pennsylvania. Botetourt and the country on each side of it sent members. The first large connections were the Edmondsons, of whom there were ten or twelve families of the same name. Then the Vances, Newells, Blackburns, and several others of that connection; the Campbells, five or six families, the Davises, four brothers - Nathaniel, John, James and Samuel Davis, the Craigs, three brothers - David, Robert and James Craig, two or three families of the Colvilles, and the same number of Briggses, two families of Logans, John and Benjamin Logan, a large number of Buchanans, and several families of Beatys and their connections, the Rayburns and Dysarts, also a large connection of the Berry family; five or six Lowrey families; the Sharps and Laughlins, a large connection, including the Kings and Youngs. These Youngs were not the German family, they were of Irish descent. I have named such as occurs to me, but that the reader may know who were the heads of families that composed the Rev. Charles Cummings' congregation at Sinking Spring, in the Grace Spring neighborhood, I will give a list of their names, and it must be remembered that they were all Presbyterians.

"These families were in the county previous to 1772:
George Blackburn
William Blackburn
John Vance
John Casey
Benjamin Logan
Nathan McNabb
John Davis
Halbert McLure
Arthur Blackburn
Nathaniel Davis
Samuel Evans
William Kennedy
Andrew McFerran
Samuel Hendrey
John Patterson
James Gilmore
John Lowrey
William Christian
Andrew Colville
Robert Craig
Joseph Black
Jonathan Douglas
William Berry
John Cusick
James Piper
James Harold
Robert Edmondson
Thomas Berry
Robert Trimble
William Magaughey
David Dryden
Samuel Briggs
Wesley White
James Dorchester
James Fulkerson
Stephen Jordan
Alexander Laughlin
James English
Richard Moore
Thomas Ramsey
Samuel Wilson
Joseph Vance
William Young
William Davidson
James Young
John Sharp
John Long
Robert Topp
John Hunt
Thomas Bailey
David Getgood
Alexander Breckinridge
Samuel Newell
David Wilson
David Craig
Robert Gamble
Andrew Martin
Augustus Webb
John McNabb
Chris Frankhouser
John Frankhouser, Sr.
John Frankhouser, Jr.
Thomas Sharp
John Berry
James Montgomery
Samuel Huston
Henry Cresswell
George Adams
George Buchanan
James Dysart
Willliam Miller
Andrew Leeper
David Snodgrass
Daniel McCormick
Francis Kincannon
Joseph Snodgrass
James Thompson
Robert Denniston
William Edmondson
Samuel Edmondson
Andrew Kincannon
John Kelley
John Robinson
James Kincannon
William Edmondson
Thomas Edmondson
John Beaty
George Tutor
Michael Halfacre
Stephen Cawood
James Garvell
Robert Buchanan, Jr.
Edward Jamison
Richard Heggon
John Lester
George Clark
James Molden
William Blanton
Christopher Acklin
James Craig
Joseph Gamble
Margaret Edmondson
John Edmondson
John Boyd
Robert Kirkman
Martin Pruitt
Nicholas Brabston
Andrew Miller
Alexander McNutt
William Pruitt
John McCucheon
James Berry
James Trimble
William Berry
Moses Buchanan
David Carson
Samuel Buchanan
William Bates
William McMillin
John Kennedy
Robert Lamb
Thomas Raferty
Thomas Baker
John Groce
Robert Buchanan
Thomas Evans
William Marlor
Hugh Johnston
Edward Pharis
Joseph Lester
William White
Samuel White
William Lester
Willilam Pogue
Samuel Buchanan
Thomas Montgomery
Samuel Bell
John Campbell

"Of the above long list, how many remained in the county? Not one family in twenty, I believe. Holston seemed to be a point from which the restless settler could survey, in his mind, at least, the great and beautiful West, the lands of Kentucky and Cumberland, and as soon as each one thought it would be safe for his family, he packed up his wife and children and put off for those fascinating countries. We have a fine country here, possessing some of the highest recommendations, yet it is a real pleasure to travel through Tennessee and Kentucky, and see the thrift and prosperity of the men and their families who went from Holston in early times, to those countries. Should you be traveling and call at a fine farm house, you might almost conclude the original proprietor and ancestor of the family came from Holston, and by a little conversation you would soon trace them back to old Augusta. Many of the men whose names I have mentioned, and others from Old Washington, participated in the battle of Point Pleasant, in 1774, and principally fought the battle of the Long Island Flats, in 1776, and also participated in the memorable battle of Kings Mountain, distinguishing themselves in each battle. Yet there are some men and historians found who have been endeavoring to disparage them and throw them out of view in each battle."

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